Raleigh Saltwater Club KMT 2007
Many teams fish the king mackerel tournament circuit for years without standing atop the winner’s podium, but Steve Ford’s “Sic-Em” team occupied that enviable position in just the seventh tournament they entered, the Bobby Murray Chevrolet/Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing Club King Mackerel Tournament, held August 3-5 out of Sea Water Marina in Atlantic Beach.
They secured the win by weighing the largest king caught in an NC king mackerel tournament this year, a 41.8 lb. giant. Topping the 23’ and Under TWT, the normal TWT, and the overall leaderboard, the Fayetteville, NC-team pocketed $17,815.
The “Sic-Em” crew not only won in the seventh tournament of their king mackerel careers, they did it one week after finishing third in the Greater Wilmington King Mackerel Tournament. Capt. Ford attributed this hot streak to beginner’s luck, but “Sic-Em” is fast becoming a name to watch out for on tournament leaderboards.
For the Raleigh Saltwater event, Ford was joined by his daughter Stephanie and the father/daughter team of Jamie and Jamie Morris aboard the 23’ Yamaha-powered Sea Pro. Stephanie and Jamie Morris shared the Lady Angler honors for the tournament.
The winning king bit a naked pogy trolled on top around 9:30 Saturday morning. The near-42 lb. fish struck as the team trolled in 65’ of water between 30 Minute Rock and 1700 Rock, east of Lookout Shoals.
“It was pretty funny,” Ford said of the big king’s battle. “Stephanie fought it for around 20 minutes, and then we got it up to the boat and saw how big it was. Big Jamie took over while the fish ran around the boat a little bit, then the fish took off again and went about 100 yards. Then little Jamie worked it back to the boat in about 10 minutes. All three of them fought it.”
When the younger Morris had the fish close to the boat, she passed the rod off to her father. As Morris worked the fish within range, Steve Ford left the helm and sank a gaff in the big king.
With a 40+ king in the boat, the “Sic-Em” crew relaxed their efforts a bit but still landed a few more kings over the course of the day.
“We didn’t catch a whole lot of them,” Ford recalled. “We had some trouble with our bait dying because one of my livewell pumps went out. After we caught that one, though, it kind of took the pressure off. We did a little experimenting, started fishing some new areas and trying some new stuff.”
Though the “Sic-Em” crew didn’t do any pre-fishing for this tournament over the week, they caught the winning king very close to where they’d caught the third place Greater Wilmington fish the week before, and Ford had a hunch that the area would produce another big fish.
“We did exactly what I wanted to do,” he said. “We caught pogies where I wanted to, went to the spot I wanted to go, and caught the fish.” The team caught their baits near Harkers Island Saturday morning.
Ford wished to thank Robbie Boswell from Bleecker GMC and Clyde, Jim, and Brad of A.K. McCallum for their contributions to the team’s success.
The “OBX Girl/Team Calcutta” crew took second place in the event, weighing a 40.70 lb. king mackerel. The Tarboro, NC-based team fishes aboard a 31’ Yamaha-powered Contender, and is comprised of Joe Dupree, his sons Jim and Daniel Dupree, and Scott Watson. Second place earned them a check for $8080.
A naked pogy trolled long on top fooled the second place fish into striking. The bite came just after 1:00 Saturday, as the crew trolled at East Rock, off Bogue Inlet in 54’ of water. Jim Dupree took the rod just after the strike as the king made its initial run.
“It was a good run,” Joe Dupree said. “He took off about 150 yards and then ran right back under the boat. I asked Jim, ‘Do we still have him or what?’ The he took off on another big run. That fish put up a great fight.”
With Joe at the helm and Jim on the rod, the team followed their king for over half an hour before getting it close enough to think about gaffing.
“I ran the boat until we could see the fish really well, and then Daniel took over while I gaffed him. It was a whole team effort.”
The 40 lb. fish was the only king strike the “OBX Girl/Team Calcutta” crew had on Saturday. One small shark they caught in the morning was their only other bite. They fished with both bluefish and pogy baits over the day.
“We were out under the Atlantic Beach Bridge catching bluefish until 11:00 Friday night,” Dupree remembered. “We went to Harkers Island Saturday morning and caught our menhaden, but we mixed blues and pogies in the well, and the pogies got beat up early. We’d started out fishing the rock jetty, but then went back in and caught more bait at Harkers around 11:00. Then we decided to work down the beach towards East Rock, and that’s where we ended up fishing.”
Dupree wished to express his gratitude to the team’s sponsors Calcutta, Fishing Accessories, Long Trailers, Morgan Keegan Stockbrokers, Consumer Marine, Overton’s, Contender, and Yamaha.
East Rock also gave up the tournament’s third place fish—a 39.14 lb. king caught by Morehead City’s “Nail R Down” fishing team. Allen Downing, Jim Wilson, and Jeremy Patterson were all aboard the 26’ Yamaha-powered Sailfish for the tournament.
The third place king struck a naked ribbonfish trolled deep on the downrigger around 9:20 Saturday morning. Wilson was the angler, and he grabbed the rod after the fish popped the bait from the downrigger clip. The king stayed on top throughout the fight, which lasted around 45 minutes.
“We just took it easy, finessed him, got him close, and then put him in the bag,” Wilson said.
The “Nail R Down” anglers caught quite a few kings over the course of the tournament’s only fishing day, and had a 32 lb. fish and several in the 15-20 lb. range in addition to their money-winner. Though they caught their big king on a ribbonfish, many of the others bit live pogy baits, which they caught near Town Creek Marina Saturday morning.
The team wished to thank their sponsors L.A. Downing & Sons and Davis Boat Sales.
The “Slick Cam” crew captured fourth place in the tournament, weighing in a 36.50 lb. king. Craig and Sharon Lewis make up the Pine Knoll Shores, NC-team, and fished the event aboard their Yamaha-powered 23’ Contender.
Randy Pulley’s “Precision Marine” team earned fifth place with a 35.96 lb. king, which also earned Jackson Pulley the top spot in Junior Angler competition.
The Raleigh Saltwater Sportfishing Club King Mackerel Tournament is in its 23rd year, and was proud to welcome Bobby Murray Chevrolet as a title sponsor for 2007. For more information on the club or the tournament, you can visit www.rswsc.org.
